Playing With Rooks
by Jenna McKane
Summary: A woman from Deeks' past is brought back into the picture after Callen is kidnapped because Hetty thinks she can help them find him. Soon after she arrives they realize that Callen, this woman and Deeks all have one thing in common, they're apart of an organization built like a chess game. But what nobody realizing is that this time they're playing a chess game they'll lose.


**This is the second part of the series entitled Rooks. The first story is called, prolouge and while it is not nessecary to read it's certainly suggested. **

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**MAY 17, 2013** **OPERATIONS OF SPECIAL PROJECTS HEADQUATRERS **

To say it was a normal Tuesday morning would be the understatement of the century. Three pots coffee had already been brewed (and Deeks probably broke the coffee pot), two sets of partners had already been to the gym-twice and one person had spoken words so colorful that Hetty threatened him with her letter opener and it wasn't even 9 am. In all actuality, it would have been a normal Tuesday morning, if their Monday night was normal.

They'd been on a drug trafficking case. Eric and Nell's intel lead them to a dock along the Santa Monica Pier. It was a simple job, Callen and Sam would go in get the evidence needed and Kensi and Deeks would move in. But for whatever reason it turned deadly last minute and Callen ended up being captured by another criminal waiting on the dock. Sam was knocked unconscious and Kensi and Deeks were unsuccessful in their pursuits of the man.

"Criminals," Deeks muttered under his breath, "Could they get just a scrap of originality."

Kensi shook her head and yawned as they walked from the gym for the second time that morning. Kensi's hair was tied into a bun on the top of her head and she was still wearing her sports attire. "If they did I think we'd be out of a job." Kensi said as they rounded the corner to head to their desks.

Sam was still sitting at his exactly the way they left him at least an hour ago. His head was in a file and a highlighter was in his hand. "Find anything useful?" Kensi asked before she took a drink of her water and took a seat on top of her desk.

"Eric and Nell are working on the fuzzy picture the whack job sent us but his reports are nearly useless unless you're him." Sam said as he capped the highlighter. "He writes things like 'The Rook moved into place' and 'check mate' in Russian in most of his classified reports."

"What do you think it means?" Kensi asked and took another drink of her water. She watched as Deeks moved to look at the files. He reached into the pile and pulled out a purple file folder with the word classified written on it in all caps.

"Honestly?" Sam asked as he gave Deeks a questioning glance. Deeks ignored the glance so he continued on, "I have no idea. All these cases are pre-NCIS years for Callen but these are the ones Hetty told us to look at."

Deeks looked at the folders and cursed in his head. He had the same color folders sitting in his bottom desk drawer. They were his secret, the only one he'd go to the end of the earth to protect.

Deeks pushed the thought of his similar looking files out of his mind and turned his attention back to Callen's. "With good reason," Deeks said and everybody looked at him. Four eyes laid on him and he closed the file. He handed Sam back the file and began to explain, "A rook is a piece in a game of chess. It's a piece best used at the end after it's been protected throughout the game. The "rook" Callen is referring to are people, moving in to complete the mission in one fail swoop. By the looks of the file I just read, Callen's a Rook."

The listening pair nodded waiting for Deeks to say more but he didn't. So Kensi spoke up, "How do you know all this?"

Deeks looked at Kensi, he knew she could tell he was hiding something but said nothing. He went with a half-truth, "I knew somebody once who told me that they're life was a chess game but instead of being just a pawn they were a Rook. Back then I thought they were being metaphorical until I met them again when I was undercover and they told me the same thing. I realized then that they meant they were apart of a chess game."

"So how do we figure out what case has got them interested in Callen?" Kensi asked. She stood up and walked over to the pile of colorful folders and picked up one, thumbing through it.

Deeks' eyes fluttered over to the case files and knew right then and there they'd tell Sam and Kensi nothing. They'd all be written the same way, all with the same code but with Callen's twist. Deeks knew that nobody but Steele, Callen and another Rook would be able to decipher it. "You can't," Deeks drew a breath in and he looked at Sam, "If I picked up a case file from a classified SEAL mission how much would I be able to understand?"

"No more than the location and name of the target." Sam said.

Deeks had his full attention so he continued with a steady voice, "These files are like CIA files. You won't get anything. You'll get less than nothing."

Sam nodded but looked unsatisfied. Deeks understood but he knew that he couldn't say anything that'd give him away so he kept quiet. "Then why'd Hetty give them to us," Kensi asked.

Deeks looked at the files and then back to Kensi. He'd always suspected Hetty knew what he did before (during really) his time as an LAPD undercover operative but to what extent he never knew. The files sitting of Sam's told him exactly how much she knew but he couldn't say anything, _wouldn't_ say anything.

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't lie to Kensi, she'd see right through it. After three years of partnership he trusted her too much to lie to her. He wasn't going to break their trust just because he couldn't talk about his past.

"Do you think Callen's kidnapping has anything to do with being a Rook?" Kensi asked her voice bringing him out of his trance. This time her features were determined and focused she held her hand out and motioned for the file that Sam was reading.

Sam handed it over and Kensi began reading it. "When you destroy lives for a living people are bound to want you dead," Deeks said as his desk phone began to ring.

He twirled the phone up to his ear and Kensi and Sam rolled their eyes. "Deeks," he answered It was Hetty, on the other side.

"Mr. Deeks," she said, "Would you please join me in my office," Deeks looked over to her office and saw that she was sitting with a cup of tea in her hand.

"Sure," Deeks said and hung up the phone. He moved out from behind his desk and said, "Hetty wants to see me."

"What did you do this time?" His partner inquired with a scolding look.

"I'm six weeks behind on reports and I'm pretty sure I broke the coffee pot but other than that? Absolutely nothing." Kensi shook her head and laughed lightly.

"Hetty, what can I do for you," He said as he walked into her office. "Besides buy a new coffee pot and my reports because I promise you I'll do both."

Hetty shook her head and "Take a seat, Mr. Deeks." Hetty said moving the cup of tea around in her hands. Deeks obliged and took a seat in one of the chairs opposite her desk. Hetty took a moment and then said, "Eric and Nell have cleaned up the photo that was sent to us." Deeks nodded and went to ask if he was supposed to tell Kensi and Sam to go upstairs with them when he heard Eric's ear piercing whistle. He turned to see the pain walk up the stairs and he turned his focus back on Hetty. "We have called in a person who'll be able to help us," Deeks nodded and Hetty continued, "She'll be arriving at LAX at 7:45. Would you mind picking her up?"

"Not at all. Who am I looking for?" Deeks asked his curiosity peaked.

Hetty sat back in her chair with her tea cup in hand and replied, "You'll know when you see her, Mr. Deeks. Don't be late though she doesn't take too kindly to that."

Deeks nodded and got up to leave. He went to his desk grabbed his jacket and bag and headed out to the car garage.

::

**MAY 17, 2013 LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (LAX)**

LAX was always busy. Celebrities were always either coming or going, paparazzi never left, people never seemed to slow down in LA and LAX was the perfect example of that. The crowds bustled around Deeks, he was holding a Starbucks cup in his hand and looking at his watch on his wrist. It was 7:40 and the plane Hetty told him to watch was just letting the passengers off.

He waited and watched as he recognized not a single person flooding near the bag return. He stood there for a few moments before he went to turn away from the bag return to call Hetty and ask just who he was looking for. Just as he turned away he saw a woman no younger than 30 with auburn waist length hair and blue eyes looking at him. He thought his eyes were tricking him. She was supposed to be dead.

He blinked once, twice and a third time before he really opened his eyes to look at her again. She was standing there in front of him now. She'd invaded his personal space but in the airport there wasn't much space they really had.

Deeks wanted to ask a million questions but none were uttered. Both of their eyes had tears in them and neither knew what to say. His hands met her face and hers did the same. They said nothing but he threw his arms around her pulling her into a bone crushing hug of passion, anger, loss, love and even hatred. His hand moved his way down to where he knew her tattoo to be and he pushed against it. She smiled into his chest and leaned back, "It's still there," she said softly.

He couldn't say anything. He didn't know what to say but he just nodded and moved his other hand to intertwine with hers. She smiled to him and placed her own hand on his left scapula in the place that his matching tattoo sat. "You changed your hair," he said as he pulled her towards the entrance of the airport.

"Blonde didn't suit me," she said and he nodded. It was true it didn't her skin was too fair, her eyes were too dark and her features too sharp. Blonde wasn't her. Blonde was Katrina. Catherine fit the auburn hair. They walked in near silence only affectionate looks passed between the two of them.

"Martin," she said just as they reached outside the airport. They stopped and she pulled out the grainy picture that was left on her desk. She handed it to Deeks and said, "Our game is back in session."

Deeks looked at the picture, the color immediately left his face and he gripped her hand harder. She squeezed back and waited for his verbal reaction.

"Shit," he muttered.

::

**A/N: I give my sincere promises that the endgame is Kensi/Deeks! Just hang in and trust me. **


End file.
